This invention relates to a method of searching and providing the Uniform Resource Locator (xe2x80x9cURLxe2x80x9d) for an Internet web page (the method itself sometimes referred to as a xe2x80x9csearch enginexe2x80x9d), and specifically to a method for allowing a user to quickly access a company""s home web page and/or authorized vendor list when the user knows the company""s trademark and can provide a description of its products or services.
The Internet has experienced, and continues to experience, explosive growth. Simply defined, the Internet is a very large network of computers. The most common use of this network is through the World Wide Web (xe2x80x9cthe webxe2x80x9d). Documents created for the World Wide Web as xe2x80x9cweb pagesxe2x80x9d are in the form of the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and are transferred using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
In order to access information on a computer connected to the Internet network, the user needs to be able to find the computer which has the desired information. This requires knowledge of the computer""s address, typically expressed in the form of Uniform Resource Locator (xe2x80x9cURLxe2x80x9d). The URL format is xe2x80x9chttp://www.xxxx.yyyxe2x80x9d. The first four letters xe2x80x9chttpxe2x80x9d represent the transfer protocol. Other protocols include, for example, the file transfer protocol (ftp). The next three letters xe2x80x9cwwwxe2x80x9d indicate the name of the host computer having the desired information. Typically, Internet content providers use the designation xe2x80x9cwwwxe2x80x9d as the name of one or more computers storing and providing HTML web pages. The next set of characters xe2x80x9cxxxxxe2x80x9d is the domain name of the computer which contains the content to be accessed. Finally, the last set of characters xe2x80x9cyyyxe2x80x9d indicates the type of web site. For example, a commercial web site typically ends in xe2x80x9ccomxe2x80x9d whereas web sites linked to educational institutions typically end in xe2x80x9ceduxe2x80x9d and government organizations end in xe2x80x9cgovxe2x80x9d.
A problem arises in that the URL is not always intuitively related to a particular company. It is frequently very difficult to determine the URL for a known company. This phenomenon facilitated the development of search engines. Search engines receive information from a user concerning the type of site that a user wishes to visit, and then search the Web for all sites which potentially satisfy the user""s criteria.
A typical user, interested in finding information about a topic, can use one of these search engines. Conventional search engines utilize categories (e.g. sports and travel), boolean logic word searches and sophisticated search algorithms to find relevant web sites. However, many users of the Internet are interested in locating information about a particular product or service associated with a single company. Entering the name of the company, product, or service into a conventional search engine generally yields a large number of undesired responses or xe2x80x9chitsxe2x80x9d.
For example, a user might wish to find information about cars made under the CADILLAC trademark. Such a user would be interested in locating the CADILLAC home pagexe2x80x94the site which contains general information about CADILLAC automobile products and which also provides links (http references to other files and sites) relating to more detailed information about CADILLAC products. The user would enter in the word xe2x80x9cCadillacxe2x80x9d into a conventional search engine. Entering the word xe2x80x9cCadillacxe2x80x9d into a popular search engine was found to yield 723 sites, one of which will be the home page for GENERAL MOTORS CADILLAC brand. Thus, a user, knowing the site he or she wishes to reach must now sift through all of this information to find the CADILLAC web site.
Other known search engines, like REALNAMES by CENTRAAL, create a database where subscribing companies"" trademarks and their URLs are correlated. A user enters a company name, and the Web site which corresponds to that company is displayed on the user terminal""s monitor. However, if the database has more than one company listed with the same name or trademark, a list of all companies associated with that mark is displayed to the user. For example, a user wishing to see the web site for AID AUTO STORES may enter the term xe2x80x9caidxe2x80x9d into the service. This results in the display of a large quantity of web addresses on the user""s terminal. Again the user must then sift through these addresses to find the web site of the company he or she wishes to see.
In addition, a user who wishes to purchase the goods or services affiliated with the mark must try to find a local vendor or conduct an on-line search in attempt to locate a remote vendor. Finding a local vendor can be time consuming and can involve multiple telephone calls if the user does not know who in their locale sells the desired goods. Conducting an on-line search may result in providing a list of potential remote vendors, but the user has no way of insuring that the vendors are reputable, or whether the goods sought are xe2x80x9cauthorizedxe2x80x9d for sale in their region, i.e., not xe2x80x9cknock-offsxe2x80x9d or grey market goods.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a search engine which can bring a user to a specific web site or home page when the user knows the mark and can provide a description of the products or services for which information is desired, and which can provide a user with a list of authorized vendors from which the good or service can be purchased.
The present invention enables a user terminal to automatically display a web site after a user has input a mark and a description of the product or service associated with the mark, and optionally, provide a list of authorized vendors for the product or service. The list of authorized vendors can be a URL or an actual list based on a user""s geographic preference, as in the case with local sales merchants, or can be a list of remote on-line providers.
One aspect of the present invention provides a searching system for determining web site data associated with a mark, in which a server has access to a database. At least one user terminal is coupled to the server and establishes a communication session with the server through a communication network. At least one user uses the user terminal to enter search criteria, the search criteria comprising both the mark and goods associated with the mark. The server, in response to receipt of the search criteria, uniquely identifies a single web site corresponding to the search criteria.
As another feature of the present invention the server identifies the single web site by examining a database table in the database. The database table includes a list of marks, goods and web sites which identifies a single web site for each unique combination of a mark and its associated goods.
In addition, the search system software can cause the user terminal to display the identified web site.
The web site is additionally identified by a uniform resource locator.
As another feature, the web site is identified by a file location for a constructed web site.
The database can also further comprise a macro-list in which the macro-list has a product type and one or more corresponding product entries. A database table record in the database table matches the entered search criteria when the entered goods includes any entry from the entries corresponding to the product type.
As another aspect of the present invention, the database further includes at least one of a URL and an actual list of authorized vendors of the goods associated with at least one mark in the list of marks from which the server further identifies at least one of the URL and the actual list of authorized vendors corresponding to the search criteria.
The present invention also provides a search engine server in communication with at least one user terminal across a communication network in which the search engine server determines a web site associated with a mark. A storage device stores a database table and search engine software, the database table comprising at least one database record. A network interface communicates with the user terminal across the communication network. A central processing unit executes the search engine software in which the search engine software performs the functions of:
receiving search criteria from the user terminal, the search criteria comprising both the mark and goods associated with the mark; and
identifying a single database table to locate a database record corresponding to the received search criteria.
An additional aspect of the present invention provides the search engine software with the ability to:
allow a user to use one of the user terminals to register a mark and goods associated with the mark;
verify that the combination of the mark and the corresponding description of the mark are unique with the database table; and
store the mark and the associated goods of the mark in the database table in the case where the combination is unique.
As an additional aspect of the invention, the search engine software when executed by the central processing unit further performs the function of storing at least one of a URL and an actual list of authorized vendors associated with the mark in one of the database table and a separate database table.
The database table can additionally be arranged such that each database record comprises a registrant field corresponding to an entity associated with the mark in the database record.
The present invention further provides a method for determining a web site associated with a mark. According to the method, search criteria are received from a user terminal, the search criteria comprising the mark and goods associated with mark. A database table is searched to uniquely locate a single database record corresponding to the received search criteria.
Another aspect of the present invention includes the step of identifying at least one of a URL and an actual list of authorized vendors associated with the mark.